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Power of CPS and the government involvement in parenting....

I have recently been dealing with some stuff on the topic as well seen alot of things regarding CPS lately. It got me wondering what do you ladies think? When it involves the protection of children How far is to far? Is there a to far? When should they butt out and when should they step in? Under what circumstances should they be able to remove children from homes? Is there a point where some times being to strict or to cautious could be counter productive? I mean thinking about it logically there are a number of stories where they make mistakes remove kids for no good reason. Could this be more detrimental? What of the strife caused to the family or the hardship on the children. Should there be a set mandate for when it is acceptable or not to break up a family? and What if there is a mistake made what if a family is disrupted and later found the concerns were not warranted? Should there be punishments for the workers involved or compensation for the families it harm? When does parenting cease to be individualized and when is it controlled or should be controlled by the government? If you are unjustly accused should you fight or roll with it? What do you think and what would you do if it was you?

"lets just say they stick their noses where it doesnt belong and then dont stick their noses where it does belong"

I agree, but I don't think it's their fault entirely. I think those people who go abuse CPS to report anything they don't like or they're simply getting even with someone have more to blame. Thing is, true cases of abuse usually remain hidden from others. A person who's is treating her children will be extra careful in public and will scare her children into talking, so it can take a while before someone realizes something is wrong and report it.
What are the majority of reported cases? The woman who saw a mom smack her child at Walmart, for example, which more often than not isn't a case of true abuse. And CPS resources are wasted on these cases.
Thing is true abuse scares the crap out of us. We hear of unbelievable cases, wonder how that could happen and hope we could do something to stop it

I believe that we first need to have anonymous reporting eliminated. Not to the people they call on, but to the agency. I see people using CPS far too often as a weapon- In my son's first 3 years of life I had CPS called on me 3 times! Once by my son's grandmother, once by my son's father, and once by one of his girlfriends. 2 times the case was closed after a walk through of the house. Once, I had to undergo six months of drug testing because someone accused me of drug abuse. I underwent the drug test because I was innocent, but felt like I had no choice. If I refused they would assume I was doing drugs.

It's a very fine line between following up on a report and jumping the gun. If house has all utilities, food, isn't filthy, beds for the kids, and at least a few toys/child appropriate activities they usually close the case and leave. Sometimes further investigation is needed.

But when people get scared out if their wits they become paranoid and loose perspective and every little thing sets them off. That's when we loose perspective. We have to know that abuse WILL happen. It's a sad reality, but a reality nonetheless. Just broadening the definition of it isn't gonna stop it from happening and will just divert resources from where they're truly needed.

Actually dull a CPS wokers job is to keep children out of foster care where ever possible and where the children are not in danger from the parents. They have the ability to provide legal advise assistance as well as financial assistance to do these things. As well when they go to court the judge orders them to assist with these things. Would it not make more sense to try and assist here instead of court if the parents are willing to cooperate instead of pushing to court first only to have the same outcome. As for the complaint the only additional thing is that the child was said to be being teased at school. The issue involved is prior report given by mother in law in hopes to gain costody of the cvhildren. That report was thrown out with no findings and actually had the oppsite finding through both doctors and psychologists investigations. So no the report can be as little as you yelled at your child to as big as you hit .

In the cases where children are unjustly removed I feel there should be restitution! There could be a lot of psychological harm to the children as well as the parents. I don't necessarily think any one person should be held at fault, but they should be allowed to seek reasonable costs of hardship- lost wages, therapist bills, lost school tuition (if private school) etc.

Too far is when they can tell me exactly how to raise my child. As long as someone is causing their child undue physical, mental, or emotional harm is is abuse. Beyond that they should have no say.

Annabel I understand the feeling when I got court papers there were added suspicions other then what they initially said. My attorney says the added suspicions are to cover their butts because the reason for taking the kids was unacceptable and that they needed to show cause for concern. Now Im in alcohol classes and taking drug test based of pictures of a bday party on my facebook and nothing more. Even though my assessment says I am not an alcoholic I must take them until I go to my court date and present it to the judge or I will be considered uncooperative

We have a neighbor who has had CPS called multiple times, but for whatever reason, still has her kids. She shouldn't. The scarier part is she lives with her parents, and they are both mandatory reporters, yet can't seem to stop the neglect going on with their own grandchildren when they aren't home.

Meanwhile my friend lost years with his children because his psycho ex-wife filed false charges and it took years to appeal and get it all overturned.

well, like i said, i have no idea what their guidelines are.
however, if there job is to keep kids out of foster care, which would be a good thing (in some cases), why do they remove kids in the first place? the danger is not always the parents..it can be their living arrangements, the home environment (safety issues, as well as who frequents the home).
i can't make a judgement on your case, or say what i would do, as it is not my job or specialty. (i can fix yo wig and wax yo brows, yes!)
the saying, ''where there's smoke, there's fire'' probably comes into play, in a loose sense, with CPS. there's no reason not to expect them to be cautious and check under all rocks, y'know? if nothing comes from it, and children are deemed ok, along with the home environment, than its all good, and all parties can get back to living life.
CPS sees so much that we don't, on any day.
GL to ya, doll.

Thats my thought NP I lost my kids though I do not abuse, neglect or any thing else I entered a lease not knowing the home was infested then when I found out when to the landlord who refused to act I was attempting to finish out my lease so as not to hurt my credit breaking a lease I was at a loss. Mean while my neighbor has a pedo living with her, her kids would jump out their window at 3am she is a meth user and usually not home or to high to wat ch her kids. She has been reported numerous times with no result. Though yes her building was not yet infested and is a few buildings from mine in MO she is endangering more then just her kids physically yet she can keep hers. It's a seriously broken system.